Hearts Of Sapphire
by emmieedwards
Summary: From the time she was born, Corinna knew she would not be able to settle into a life subjugated by the system. In the midst of adventures, quarrels and intrigues, Corinna finds herself bestowed with a gift that others around her have lost a long time ago and she will have to choose whether to use it for good or not.
1. p r o l o g u e

The buzz began before the sun appeared on the horizon.

Corinna Lestat extracted as much milk as possible from the lean cow she and her father raised in the backyard, being careful to leave something for the newborn calf struggling to survive from the day it was born. Not unlike Corinna herself.

The hovel where she lived was located in one of the city limits with the forest that surrounded all the borders of Fortuna and the other nine villages. The main road was the view that could be appreciated from the few windows present in the precarious structure.

Many of the inhabitants of Fortuna were obliged to pass by in order to reach the center of the settlement. Usually only the noises of carts and horses were heard at that time. However, on that day, it was possible to hear voices and noises of exasperation. It usually only happened at one time of year.

When the _Sacrifice_ was approaching.

Corinna frowned to herself as she did the math and carried the half-full bottle of milk — it had not been possible to get another drop of the cow without it jeopardizing the puppy's feeding — into the hovel.

It had not even completed four months since the last Sacrifice was over. She could still hear clearly the Bayou family cry when news of the fourteen-year-old son's death in combat had arrived. She could hear clearly the laments of the Covencut family when the eldest daughter returned without the movements of her legs.

The sound of the whip as a threat, if families would not stop cursing the _powerful ones_ , could also be heard with some effort.

The Sacrifice happened every year. Normally the choice of participants started on the Summer Solstice and the competition lasted until the end of the season.

A familiar horse-trot sounded as Corinna turned on the last worn-out step of the entrance to her hut.

Kallien Steros stepped down from the animal with a look, serious enough for something to stir the girl.

No, that was not an ordinary day.

"You know the news?" The boy said as a greeting as he adjusted his coarse linen shirt with one hand and balanced one brown packet in another.

"Good morning to you too, Kallien." Corinna took a deep breath as she faced her friend in front of her. She was impressed how he could look so lush before even the morning streaked. The boy rolled his eyes, but there was a playful smile on his lips.

"Good morning, Cori." He took the girl's face very carefully with the free hand and kissed her cheek. In fact, much closer to the lips than to the cheek itself. Corinna did not bother to scold him for the thousandth time. Kallien stepped back, holding out the brown package that smelled delicious. "They're the first batch. I came as fast as I could to get them here with a pleasant temperature.

It was her turn to kiss his cheek. His _actual_ cheek.

"You know you don't have to keep doing this. My father and I managed to live a few weeks without the wheat for the bread." The small plantation in the back had been devastated after a storm so intense that it frightened Tabbris, the mare of Corinna, causing that it crushed with the hooves much of the wheat.

"I know, but I don't think it's a big deal to provide some for you as the plantation regenerates.

"I doubt that your uncle, the city baker, will think the same way," the girl finally replied, turning her back on her friend when he shrugged and opened the cottage door as quietly as possible. Her father was still sleeping on the tiny floor above. Kallien followed with his stride to the simple dinner table with room for two. He propped the brown package on the piece of furniture as he pulled the chair opposite Corinna's.

The simple smile still ran over the boy's face as he watched her every gesture carefully as he poured some milk into one of the glasses, offered him a mouthful and returned to the table after receiving a shake of his head. Her nimble fingers opened the package so quietly that Kallien was almost hypnotized.

Corinna took the first bite of the soft bread, almost wanting to do a worship service to any deity that allowed her to eat something of good quality from time to time.

"You know I can't thank you enough for this," she told the young man who was still staring at her in awe. His simple smile became malicious as he leaned across the table and whispered so that only she could hear:

"I have ideas of equally pleasant means for the both of us in which you can do this." Corinna rolled her eyes, but she smiled.

"I hope you're not putting off the novelty you brought with food and flirting," she said playfully, but apprehensive when Kallien's smile disappeared almost instantly.

He scratched the back of his neck in a way that Corinna knew that bad news were coming.

"The Square of the Announcements." Kallien said as if he could not formulate a coherent sentence. "They pinned new dates at dawn."

The girl raised her eyebrows as minutes passed in silence. She forced herself to ask, even though she already knew the answer. "New dates for what?"

Kallien took a deep breath.

"Dates for the _Audition_. In two days a new selection process for the Sacrifice will begin."


	2. o n e

PARTE UM:

THE CHOSEN ONES

* * *

Kallien's answer was expected, but Corinna blinked at least five times before saying, "It's the beginning of winter. Sacrifice happens in summer." Her voice was as expressionless as his body language.

"Not this time, it seems." his friend replied. "There will be a Winter Sacrifice.

Corinna took a deep breath.

Not for her, but for Kallien who would surely sign up again.

For families that would be apprehensive once more within a period of months. For her father who would look at her with deep sadness in her eyes, but would not stop her from attending the Audition.

"You know, we — you and I — we don't need to— " Kallien began, but the girl interrupted him, leaving aside the bread and the milk.

"Not now, Kall." though he suspected the news, hearing it officially had taken away her hunger, as few things could do.

Not for me, she repeated mentally, not for me.

The boy just nodded and took out his old pocket watch. "I have to go, Cori. My father said we'll have a lot of work to do with this unexpected announcement. I didn't know what time you were going to town today, so I thought about giving you the news so you could get ready." Kallien paused as he got up, "As best as you can." 

She got up too, holding her friend's arm.

"Thank you. For everything." then the girl wrapped her arms around Kallien's waist. He just hugged her back as hard as he could without hurting her.

As if she would disappear in the air if he did not hold her firmly. The same way he always began to touch her every time the Sacrifice was coming.

Corinna was the first to walk away, as usual. The young man just sighed, stroked the girl's cheek and walked toward the door. He stopped when he was near the door and looked again at the girl watching him leave.

"We still have two days."

The only answer she could give him was a sad smile to the friend who took that as a "see you soon" and left at last.

...

The Sacrifice was never a nightmare to her. Not even when her father dressed her up for her first Audition when she was ten.

At that time, the girl thought it was due to her usual calm nature. She thought, that because of that, she was the only one who comforted the children her age that were going to the same place. Over the years that feeling became more fierce, it was not just a feeling of complying with a regulation, but one of not failing any destiny that had been imposed upon her, probably before she was even born.

Despite never being picked, Corinna had the impression that her name would be chosen one day and that it'd be her duty to heed the call. Not because she would be honored to participate in the Sacrifice —and literally give her life to the entertainment of the bastards who commanded Excelsior —but because she always thought the best way to break them was from the inside out.

Kallien called her ambitious for thinking that she would have any chance of changing a system that had lasted for centuries in the world. Corinna only answered—in her mind—that for a wall to collapse, it was necessary at least a first crack, and she didn't care if she would seem ambitious for thinking that perhaps she might, in fact, be that initial fissure.

There was still the fact about knowing herself. Corinna didn't know much about her origins, nor did she know much about her future or her mission. The girl had been born on the first night of winter in the middle of a dense forest, very close to where she now lived with her father who did not share her blood.

Deep inside, she had the stupid feeling that the Sacrifice was a step down that road.

The door opened with a creak and the figure of a sodden Mr. Lestat was revealed.

Evian Lestat was a man near the age of forty. The hair had a sand shade and was short. The eyes were greyish-green and his physical attributes were nothing compared to the mental ones, which said a lot since he was considered one of the best — if not the best — hunter of Fortuna.

A simple title Corinna had also acquired in the last year.

The man, because of a promise he had made to his daughter many years ago—and, even before that, to the girl's own mother in the last minutes of her life— taught her everything he could do.

Both of them were strong and intelligent. A combination not very common in those days.

Corinna got up from her chair, where she was reading an old book, and walked toward her father, helping him take off his wet coat and taking from his hands the sealed wrap of books he brought from school.

Evian was a teacher for pleasure, a merchant for necessity, and a hunter for both.

"How was class today?" She asked as she came back from one of the closets with a towel in her hand, handing it to the older man sitting on the makeshift, worn-out sofa in the corner of the room.

The man's shoulders bowed in disappointment, "More than half of the class hasn't attended today. I have no doubts that the number will decrease until the selection for the Sacrifice is over, and yet I fear that many won't be encouraged to return even after this period." her father took off his glasses wiping them with the towel and then wiping his own forehead. "The casualties at school were already significant when we had only one competition a year. Now, with two, I think the situation will get worse."

The young woman rubbed her face. "Any theory about that?"

The man shook his head but replied "Whatever it is, I don't think it's to make our lives easier." That shadow that always passed through the eyes of Corinna's father when he referred to the government hovered again. "It never is."

Corinna sighed "Kallien will probably come and talk to you in the next few days. Something about proposing." the father looked at his daughter and raised an eyebrow.

"Will he ask again? It's your decision and it's always going to be, haven' you made that clear? " the girl looked out of the window, watching the storm that made the afternoon seem like night.

"I don't think he's going to give up someday." she smiled sadly at the man and did not have an ounce of arrogance when she continued "Not on me. However, try to make him understand that it's nothing personal.

Evian smiled and ran her hand through his daughter's hair. "That means you didn't give up on participating."

"And you think I'm a fool because of that," she tried to look away, but her father's touch on her shoulder kept her gaze steady.

"Never. I have always encouraged you to follow your instincts. Most of the people around you will judge you and will not understand, but what you have inside you," he placed his hand on the girl's heart" it will never deceive you. The whole world may be against you, Corinna, but you can be sure that I'll be on your side.

The girl opened her arms and pulled the man into a hug, even if it made her clothes as wet as his.

Corinna sniffed twice:

"I'm going to heat the water for your shower."

The father messed the girl's dark hair "I was waiting for this insult."

She just laughed in response and headed for the kitchen.

...

The blood in her hands was still warm.

The weight of the dead animal was a comfort on her back as she walked counting the steps to the nearest river. Only when she was panting after a hunt, she realized that it was not that near. 

Corinna passed by her favorite lake, but didn't stop, though the blood, with each past second, became drier and stickier between her fingers.

That lake couldn't be contaminated at all. If her dad's vision was faithful to him on the day he found her and her mother, then the encounter would have been right there.

Although Corinna had a great affection and respect for that place, she didn't like to think too deeply about her mother or how —after bringing the newborn to the safety of the hovel — Evian came back to get the languid woman and she had simply disappeared.

Like she's never been there.

Her father remarked that not even the woman's puddle of lost blood had stood as evidence. He searched the outskirts, but he wasn't much luckier, so he rushed back to the hovel where he'd left the baby.

She hastened to the sound of flowing water. One hundred feet, she had guess. And in fact, one hundred feet she had marked with her stride.

A hunter's precision.

She left her doe on the bank of the river and dipped her hands in the cool, refreshing water.

If it still was one of the hot summer days, she would have entered in the water completely and let the sun dry her clothes on the way home. But she could not risk getting sick when the Sacrifice was so close. Then she would have to be satisfied with the river's contact with her dirty hands and her tired face.

The cold made a shiver run through her body, and then an unusual, warm wind enveloped her wracking the loose strands of her hair and bringing the scent of the forest to her nostrils. Your favorite scent all over the world.

Corinna sat on the bank next to the dead animal as the wind continued to caress the fragments of skin she had uncovered.

She remembered when she used to go there almost every afternoon after attending her father's school classes. She sat near the favourite lake with a nameless, faceless friend. The girl has never had many of them.

In fact, it was only Kallien and his sister, Callandrea. And yet, she liked to stay alone with her invented friend, who, of course, had a voice only in her head, but who understood her better than herself.

Imaginary friend—it would be the name her father would have given him if she had dared to say anything about that.

She hadn't done that not for the shame of being childish, but for knowing that it would be a period and that friend would soon be gone.

And he left. Just like her short childhood.

But she still remembered. Would always remember.

Taking a deep breath, she finally touched the water again and thanked silently any deity that would have bothered to listen. For the animal.

Winter wouldn't let them find food so abundantly, so she and her father had to take advantage of the last remaining autumn days.

"Ready to make our way back?" her father's voice made Corinna stand up quickly. The man carried a lamb with a smile on his face that was soon mirrored on the young woman's. If they did not find food when the meat was over, that lamb skin would guarantee at least an income that would last until the end of the season. "I think we got what we needed to stay away from the forest chill for a few days."

He winked at the girl, who just put the doe on her back again and walked— still smiling— next to her father.


End file.
